The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible - Bastiat Institute

208 Chapter 34 • Vice Versa
? Reformer – one
who insists on his
conscience being
your guide.
? Puritanism – the
haunting fear that
someone somewhere
may be happy.
H.L. Mencken
2) by force. To enlist the state to force religious
values on other people is a violation of the rights
of individuals to live as they see fi t. The basis of
freedom of religion is to allow everyone to choose
his or her own moral guide.
There is only one legitimate basis of law for
the state: preventing people from using force or
fraud against others. Beyond this, people should
be free to choose their own moral guide. This is
the basis of freedom of religion.
People who voluntarily exchange sexual
favours are not harming others. Therefore,
the state should not interfere in their decision.
However, they may be considered to be breaking
the moral code of some religion, but they have
not committed a crime against a victim. In this
case, other people may choose to shun them or
persuade them, but they do not have the right to
use the state to forcibly change their behaviour.
If people agree to have sex, does the amount
paid determine whether they are breaking the
law? Is selling sex for a loaf of bread a crime?
Is selling sex for a meal at a fancy restaurant a
crime? In each case, are both the seller and the
buyer arrested for dealing in prostitution?
Studies have shown that the police spend by
far the greatest amount of their time, and a huge
amount of tax money, dealing with the victimless
crime of prostitution. This time and money could
be used more constructively in dealing with
rapists, where there is a victim and, therefore, a
real crime.
References
Defending the Undefendable by Walter Block, as
well as being an entertaining book, deals with the
economic aspects of the “morally unacceptable”.
Web sites on this subject are: The Sex Workers
Education and Advocacy Task-force’s:
http://www.sweat.org.za.